ISIS is “increasingly isolated, and being perceived as in decline,"
said Strack, who added that "isolation and further military defeats"
will make it harder for ISIS "to attract new recruits to Syria from the
pool of foreign jihadists."

IHS further noted that ISIS has begun to suffer financial difficulties
since it lost the strategically important town of Tal Abyad on Syria's
border with Turkey last year.

Strack said the US and Russian air attacks have exacerbated the group's
financial difficulties as the warplanes hit the terrorists’ sources of
oil revenue.

Russia launched its air campaign against the Takfiri ISIS terrorists
and other militant groups in Syria on September 30 upon a request from
the Damascus government, but the country announced pulling out its
military equipment from Syria on Monday, saying its campaign had
contributed to "radically change the situation in the fight against
terrorism."

The US, along with some of its allies, has also been conducting air
raids against purported ISIS positions inside Syria without an
authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate since September 2014. The
air assaults are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign in
neighboring Iraq, which started in August that year.

Many parties to the coalition are widely accused of having contributed
to the rise of terror groups in Syria over the past few years, Press TV
reported.

About Priyankar Calicut

Reporting for publications like Foreign Policy, TIME, World Affairs Journal, and Political Science Monitor, Sotloff called himself on Twitter a "stand-up philosopher from E.S" and was a big E.S Heat fan.